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Food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites and toxic chemicals is a mounting health hazard and a crippling economic burden, a global conference on food safety has been told.

The two-day forum is bringing together government officials and health experts from 125 countries to combat the peril of unsafe food, which kills more than 400,000 people each year, according to UN estimates.

This includes stronger laws, better training and equipment and beefing up health systems to detect potential risks and swap information countries, he said.

The risks are very diverse, ranging from bacteria such as salmonella or listeria, to chemicals such as cancer-causing heavy metals and organic pollutants.

For countries facing drought or famine, the challenge is preventing the population from using water contaminated by cholera, or eating food unsuitable for consumption.

For countries trying to better respect international norms and export certain food products, Miyagishima warned of a "situation where exported food is of a better quality than products destined for the local market".

In Europe, Miyagishima said there was a need for faster exchange of information between health authorities, recalling the 2017 contamination of eggs in the Netherlands, which were distributed to numerous countries.

The conference comes at a time of swelling controversy over the use of chemical products in agriculture, including the controversial weed-killer Roundup.

The UN in December announced the creation of a World Food Safety Day on June 7.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)